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Wal-Mart Moves to Take a Bite Out of Apple

New online music store undercuts iTunes, lifts limits on copying

By Zach Samalin, Newser Staff

Posted Aug 21, 2007 5:20 PM CDT

(Newser) – Seeking to wrest control of the market from Apple, Wal-Mart today launched an online music store that undercuts iTunes by 5 cents per song. More important, the retail behemoth has dropped DRM copyright protection, which means customers can burn as many CDs as they like and play songs on any MP3 player, the Motley Fool reports.

Wal-Mart will still offer WMA-format music, but its move puts pressure on record labels to offer their catalogs without DRM and leaves Apple in an unfamiliar position: playing catch-up. iTunes offers music by EMI artists DRM-free; they're higher quality than protected options but cost an extra 30 cents per tune.

[Images (4)]

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The iTunes store. (PRNewsFoto/Apple) (Associated Press)

Professor David Scholle, who has purchased several hundred songs from Apple's iTunes online music store, poses at his computer as he prepares for class at Long Beach Community College in Long Beach,... (Associated Press)

A window display for Apple Computer Inc.'s online music store iTunes is seen at an Apple store in Santa Clara, Calif., in this file photo taken Wednesday, April 28, 2004. Apple's iTunes Music Stores leaped... (Associated Press)

Wal-Mart is poised to become a serious competitor to Apple's iTunes store. (Jared C. Benedict; Wikimedia Comments)

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Wal-Mart Moves to Take a Bite Out of Apple